LUNARMILE
Artist Interviews
BLACK MOON? THERE'S A YOUNG BIRMINGHAM BAND CAUSING A STIR AROUND THE WORLD RIGHT NOW. LUNARMILE ARE ON A MISSION TO BRING BACK CLASSIC ROCK…
INTERVIEW: GARRY SHARPE-YOUNG
10 February 2006
Birmingham – the world epicentre of Heavy Metal. If you had to plant a flag on the globe for the exact location where the genre originated there really is no other contendor. ROBERT PLANT, John Bonham, JUDAS PRIEST and of course BLACK SABBATH. This is where it all started. Since those heady days bands from Brum have found it tough going, enduring the fads, fashions and fickle tastes of record labels much like any other city. To get noticed a band really has to have that little something extra and LUNARMILE certainly has that.
Let's get this out the way. Singer Toni-Marie is the daughter of BLACK SABBATH guitarist TONY IOMMI and bass player Alex Hill is the son of JUDAS PRIEST's Ian Hill. Now let's deal with the music…
The band came together at a music course in Stratford on Avon. Most people go there to study Shakespere of course but Toni-Marie and guitarist Tom Williams went there to Rock. So what exactly does a BTEC course in popular music involve?
"You get to learn all aspects of the music industry" says Tom. "They teach you about songwriting, recording, producing and all the different areas of the music business. It's a good start."
I understand it was you that came up with the idea to start the band?
"Yeah, me and Toni-Marie. We started the band just after we had finished the course. We just started jamming and it sounded really good so it was as simple as that really. That's why we both went on the popular music course, we both wanted to do this professionally."
The band wasn't always called LUNARMILE though was it? You started out called AIDEN. Where did that name come from?
"We couldn't think of a name so we started thinking about our names. Our original drummer's middle name was Aiden. We thought that sounded OK so we used that. Then we found out there were quite a few bands called AIDEN. There's an American band getting quite well known now, so we had to change it."
I gather the 'Lunar' part of LUNARMILE is about Toni-Marie?
"Yeah. Toni-Marie's Dad calls her 'Moon'. That's her nickname, so that's where we got the 'Lunar' bit from. The rest of it, the 'Mile' bit, is from our names again. The initials of the band members then spelled out 'Mile' so we just put those two together to make LUNARMILE. It sounds quite different and people remember it."
You and Toni-Marie are the only original members. You've been through a lot of bass players and drummers. Why the difficulty in holding down a rhythm section?
"Good question! I don't really know. When we lost our original bass player and drummerwe've had people sort of filling in really. They've all been temporary because we were waiting for the right people, which is Alex and Rob (Stimpson)."
Both Alex and Rob were previously members of GRAVEL. I guess you must have seen them playing with that band?
"No, I've never seen GRAVEL."
That's quite funny. I'm in New Zealand and I've seen GRAVEL but you haven't. How did you get them into the band then?
"We just had a jam and we knew they were the right guys. Exactly what we were looking for. They are a good laugh too. We didn't just get Alex in because he has a famous Dad."
OK, the 'famous Dad' part of the equation. You seem to be keeping that as low key as possible but surely everyone knows about the BLACK SABBATH and JUDAS PRIEST connection now?
"We've been getting a lot of press about it just recently, but Toni-Marie and Alex can't choose who their parents are. We'd rather get known for our music but of course we do know as well that we might get a second look just because of who they are. I guess it gives us an advantage if we wanted to use it but we would like to just get our music known because people think its good, not because of who it is."
Is that not a bit unrealistic though? Surely the band wants to make it big time and therefore having those connections will get you up the ladder a bit faster. It's not just the family connections in the business though is it because obviously TONY IOMMI and Ian Hill can give you guys some unique inside advice on a whole range of things to do with the music business.
"That's true. It is a difficult question. We do know it's going to be used and it could be helpful to us. It could go the other way though, which is why we're not shouting about it. We still play a lot of shows where people have no idea and they still really like the band and come to the next gig. I think more people know about Toni-Marie and Alex around the world because of the internet than they do in Birmingham!"
You mentioned gigs there. How many shows have you done with this line-up now?
"About ten I think. Since the band started we've done about fifty shows and we're getting more and more, so it's going a bit faster all the time, which is what we want."
I guess your biggest shows so far have been supporting GLENN HUGHES?
"Yeah. I think that was February 2005. That was amazing for us. It was a new audience for us and we had not played to that many people before. We think we did really well too. We learned a lot about professionalism on those shows and Glenn was just great."
You're getting a lot of press now and you're unsigned. You're still a young band. How old are you guys?
"I'm 21, Toni-Marie is 22, Alex is 25 and Rob is 28. It's quite a range."
Although you are a modern Rock band thankfully, for me at least, you do include lead solos.
"Yeah, I've been criticised in the past for being a bit over indulgent. I'm a bit of a widdler sometimes. I think a good guitar solo can really make a song too. For a long time it was very uncool to have a lead guitar solo but now it's coming back so that's great. All those Nu-Metal bands probably couldn't play their guitar that well to have a solo I think.
My heroes are people like STEVE VAI, Eddie Van Halen and ERIC CLAPTON. I use a lot of tapping techniques and all that kind of stuff."
If you had to put LUNARMILE into a genre box where would you place the band?
"We like to call ourselves 'Female fronted Classic Modern Rock with attitude'. We've got that 70's and 80s vibe, everything from LED ZEPPELIN, BLACK SABBATH, VAN HALEN and WHITESNAKE but with influences from newer bands like TOOL and MUSE. That's one band we all really like. It makes us a bit more interesting than all the Indie and Emo bands out there. I haven't found anyone around here who are doing the same kind of thing as us."
You recently had a track, 'I Know', for sale through download. I understand you did very well out of that?
"Yeah. We had a lot of people buying the song. A lot came through Rockdetector! We've had some great feedback on it too."
What are your plans for future recordings?
"We've just done a four track demo. We recorded it at TONY IOMMI's studio. We're going to start promoting that soon and send it out to record companies and see what happens."
Without using the family ties, how do you think LUNARMILE will stand out to the labels?
"We put on a real rocking show!. It's very heavy too, but we really do put on a show. We've seen a lot of bands just stand there and play but I think that anyone whos sees a LUNARMILE show will remember it. Especially Toni-Marie, she really gives 110% every time."
You have a couple of cover versions in the set, including PRINCE.
"Yeah, we do a cover version of 'When Doves Cry', but it's much harder. It's a great song to play really heavy. PRINCE is a very underrated guitarist. Most of our show is original material but we do a couple of cover versions and there is a bit of light and shade with harder stuff and some acoustic too."
Finally, how would you describe Toni-Marie's voice. She has quite a unique sound.
"She does. She's amazing to watch onstage too. I think her voice has a lot of soul in it. It's Rock but very soulful, even a little bit Aretha Franklin. She does sound very different and people keep telling us that, so I guess that's a good thing. With Toni-Marie it's all about attitude. She really wants to do this and that's what people see when they come to the gigs."
It looks like you're going to be very busy this year.
"I hope so. If we can keep playing more gigs and making more songs we'll be happy!"
Credit/s: Garry Sharpe-Young
Copyright: © 2001-2008 Musicdetector Websites
Last updated: 10 February 2006